ShowXpress 8.2.4 - control via tablet?
Posted: 03 May 2023, 19:56
Howdy folks -
Back in 2016-ish i configured a modest light system for the band I was with, went with ShowXpress on a Win7 lappy to control. Triggered either from the laptop itself, or mapped an Ableton matrix controller via midi to various scenes. All good so far.
Fast forward till now - I left the band (on very friendly terms) a few years back, recently they came to me and asked if I could implement tablet-based control of the lights. I've been looking into that, and based on some poking around it looked like it was possible, BUT:
Every tutorial I've watched seems to begin with opening up the Control Board in ShowXpress (SX from here out) to adjust various network/IP settings. Here's the problem - my version of SX, 8.2.4 161215 doesn't display a Control Board, nor can I find it in the menus. When I open SX I get the little black-box-with-color-stripes window, which then closes as the program launches. Clicking "about" in the help menu just brings up that same window. The Control Board window I've seen on various tutorials is that same black splash box, but with various options arrayed around the perimeter. Best I can tell till now, no such window is available to me.
Neither File>Preferences nor Live>Settings seem to offer any reference to remote control. The File>Network tab shows Software, External App, and ArtNet fields, none of which seems to appear in any of the tutorials I've watched. Their screens show ControlBoard, Screen Control, and Live fields.
These tutorials go back as far as Ver 6.x (though very few specify which version they're running) so I'm fairly certain it's not a "your version is too old" problem. SO -
- Is it there, and I'm just not finding it?
- Was remote control disabled in my version?
- Is there some extension I'm missing and need to download?
- Am I a moron? (Willing to discuss that possibility)
I'm trying to avoid having to move to a different package for lighting control, there's literally months of programming work sitting on the lappy and I'd rather not have to start from scratch. So any/all assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks folks!
Ric
Back in 2016-ish i configured a modest light system for the band I was with, went with ShowXpress on a Win7 lappy to control. Triggered either from the laptop itself, or mapped an Ableton matrix controller via midi to various scenes. All good so far.
Fast forward till now - I left the band (on very friendly terms) a few years back, recently they came to me and asked if I could implement tablet-based control of the lights. I've been looking into that, and based on some poking around it looked like it was possible, BUT:
Every tutorial I've watched seems to begin with opening up the Control Board in ShowXpress (SX from here out) to adjust various network/IP settings. Here's the problem - my version of SX, 8.2.4 161215 doesn't display a Control Board, nor can I find it in the menus. When I open SX I get the little black-box-with-color-stripes window, which then closes as the program launches. Clicking "about" in the help menu just brings up that same window. The Control Board window I've seen on various tutorials is that same black splash box, but with various options arrayed around the perimeter. Best I can tell till now, no such window is available to me.
Neither File>Preferences nor Live>Settings seem to offer any reference to remote control. The File>Network tab shows Software, External App, and ArtNet fields, none of which seems to appear in any of the tutorials I've watched. Their screens show ControlBoard, Screen Control, and Live fields.
These tutorials go back as far as Ver 6.x (though very few specify which version they're running) so I'm fairly certain it's not a "your version is too old" problem. SO -
- Is it there, and I'm just not finding it?
- Was remote control disabled in my version?
- Is there some extension I'm missing and need to download?
- Am I a moron? (Willing to discuss that possibility)
I'm trying to avoid having to move to a different package for lighting control, there's literally months of programming work sitting on the lappy and I'd rather not have to start from scratch. So any/all assistance would be appreciated.
Thanks folks!
Ric